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Iran Nuclear 'Threat' Hyped: IAEA's ElBaradei
VIENNA - Iran is not going to produce a nuclear weapon any time soon and the threat posed by its atomic program has been exaggerated, the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief said in a published interview.
In an interview published on Tuesday, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, pictured here in 2008, called the threat from Iran "hyped" and that there was no evidence that Tehran will soon have nuclear weapons. (AFP/File/Samuel Kubani) The West suspects Iran wants to develop a nuclear weapons capability under the guise of a declared civilian atomic energy program. Tehran rejects the charge, saying its uranium enrichment program is a peaceful way to generate electricity.
Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said there was no concrete evidence that Tehran has an ongoing nuclear weapons program.
"But somehow, many people are talking about how Iran's nuclear program is the greatest threat to the world. In many ways, I think the threat has been hyped," he told the specialist Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
ElBaradei said there was concern about Iran's future nuclear intentions and that the Islamic Republic needs to be more transparent with the Vienna-based U.N. nuclear watchdog.
"But the idea that we'll wake up tomorrow and Iran will have a nuclear weapon is an idea that isn't supported by the facts as we have seen them so far," said ElBaradei, 67, who will step down in November after 12 years in office.
The interview was conducted in July but released late on Tuesday.
Last week, an IAEA report lent some weight to Western intelligence reports that Iran had studied ways to make atom bombs although the agency has repeatedly said it does not have concrete proof of a weapons agenda.
Iran has refused to provide documentation, access to sites or to nuclear officials for interviews which the IAEA has requested to reach conclusions about the intelligence materials.
In the interview, ElBaradei said there was an urgent need to follow up on U.S. President Barack Obama's proposal for a dialogue between Washington and Tehran, but that resorting to harsher sanctions against Iran if it does not engage would achieve little.
ElBaradei said he had gleaned from experiences dealing with North Korea and Iraq that dialogue was a more effective tool than sanctions. He was not talking about a specific country.
"Another lesson is to use sanctions only as a last resort and to avoid sanctions that hurt innocent civilians. As we saw in Iraq, sanctions only denied vulnerable, innocent civilians food and medicine," he said.
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator was quoted as saying on Tuesday that Tehran has prepared an "updated nuclear proposal" and is ready to talk to world powers. The West has said it is still waiting for details.
Germany is to host high-level talks on Iran's nuclear program on Wednesday with the United States, China, France, Britain and Russia. Western powers are expected to push China and Russia to back a fourth round of U.N. sanctions which could target Iran's vital energy sector.
(Reporting by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Jon Hemming)
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21 Comments so far
Show AllThe only guy who knows what's going on and who talked sense on Iraq and now on Iran and nobody with more political power than the local dogcatcher will listen to him.
Democracy has become the Idiocracy, the home of idiots with fools for leaders.
(Yeah, there was that Ritter fellow, but nobody listened to him either.)
No country has any right whatsoever to impose sanctions on Iran for their nuclear program. They are signatories to the NPT and as long they don't violate its statutes (which the no one has any proof of) they should be able to do whatever they want. Western governments are illegitimately encroaching on Iran's sovereignty for no reason other than to limit its regional influence.
I'll second that!
Motion carried!
You are quite right, however the Empire has a bad double-standard and streak of violent hypocrisy. We break international law at will with impunity, and bomb others who have broken no law. We fund and support countries that are also war criminals.
On this the "Empire" was supported in the UN by a bevy of minuscule "Kingdoms". Of course that does not make it any better. It is, however the UN, at the behest of us, which violates the NPT.
Absolutely, and it was the UN which was imposing "illegal" sanctions on Iraq, which were obviosely unrenewable unless WMD could be "invented", so the war agenda had to be made irrespective.
A million or so dead and 4 million displaced later, and the country still is not heeling like a good dog should.
Now Iran....
Isreal is the country that should have sanctions for WMD and war crimes. Regime change is necessary in Washington and Tel Aviv. Get rid of the global terrorists!
"The West suspects Iran wants to develop a nuclear weapons capability under the guise of a declared civilian atomic energy program."
...and I suspect Israel wants to drive out all Palestinians from the "holy land" under the guise of the peace process.
Now what to do???????
I was in the audience on Feb. 10, 2007 when Dr. Phyllis Bennis, Mid East analyst stated:
"Iran has signed the NPT, which allows them the right to have nuclear power and to enrich uranium. The 185 non-nuclear states have agreed to give up the right to have nuclear weapons and the five nuclear powers that signed the NPT agreed to get rid of their nuclear weapons. Iran is not in violation of the NPT, but America is! The USA has been in violation ever since the day they signed it. The USA is acting like a rogue state."
http://www.wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1381&Itemid=224
Mordechai Vanunu, The Whistle Blower of Israel's WMD Program wrote me:
"No one should ignore the fact that Atomic weapons are in Israel and that it was France most especially who helped build the Dimona reactor in 1960. No one should forget that France was the first state to start nuclear weapons proliferation in secret, not Iran.
"The world's problem with Iran is the obligation to help the people of Iran to have freedom and democracy; free from a dictator regime.The problem is not nuclear weapons in Iran but the need for freedom for all the people. I am not at all supporting this Ayatollahs regime in Iran. This regime should be ended and replaced by freedom and democracy for all Iran people.
"The same goes for Israel too, which is only a democracy if you are a Jew. The Israeli problem is the Jewish apartheid regime.
"No nuclear weapons program is a true deterrent or safeguard mechanism for security because Atomic weapons can only bring destruction. Atomic weapons are a mechanism of self destruction.
"How can Israel, the only country in the Middle East known to have a nuclear weapons program expects all others not to even have peaceful nuclear energy programs?
"Since Israel has the Bombs, then they can not speak with credibility about stopping all the Middle East states from having at least Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Science and Technology.
"Israel by all its nuclear secret activities opened the way for any state to do the same. My view is that Nuclear Science and technology must be part of any modern state and society, so all the world and every state should have it.
"After almost 50 years of secret nuclear activities and productions of bombs, America, France and the entire world should also intervene and demand Israel sign the NPT, follow all of the IAEA orders, regulations and restrictions."
http://www.wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1370&Itemid=223
Keep up the good work, Eileen!
ElBaradei should have been replaced a long time ago. He is an Egyptian married to an Iranian. He is a threat to world security. I've written some article about him and his failure to do his job. His first allegience is to islam, not the IAEA and world security. No wonder nuclear weapons are being proliferated across the world.
http://www.raptureforums.com
RaptureForums, What a pile you rapture addled fraudulent lot write. Keep your delusions and poisonous self-fulfilling prophecies to yourselves.
Do you seriously think that one person can fiddle all the data derived from dozens of investigations by hundreds of people without someone yelling foul?
A threat to world security? And just why would that worry you -if end times are going to happen by prophecy why would you or could you do anything to stop it?
Bring it on, eh!
Troll alert.
Google Aida Elkachef and the only hits you will find concerning her alleged Iranian nationality are from the fanatical far-right.
Gee, you could try and at least conceal your hatred and racism just a bit, you know, for credibility sake.
While the U.S. and Russia maintain tremendous stockpiles of nukes other countries will try to emulate us and do as we do. We'll have more crediblity in stoping nuclear proliferation if we lead the way.
The USA doing so well, the USA needs another nation to attack( snark).
What the West suspects is what the West would like us all to believe--that Iran is an ever present and growing nuclear threat to the safety and security of the most aggressive and most heavily militarized country in the world. Do we need the UN nuclear watchdog to tell us what common sense should make perfectly obvious?
Iran has not invaded another country for hundreds of years and knows to do so would be suicidal. The United States, in contrast, is not only guilty of invading and attacking smaller, more vulnerable countries on false pretenses, it has a stockpile of nuclear weapons large enough to blow up the entire planet several times over. It is also the only country on earth to have actually used a nuclear weapon against another nation. Now who is the greater threat--Iran or the United States of America?
Let's hope that the USA and the rank and file Americans have learned that our government loves to hype up the danger level emanating from the "axis of evil".
Iraq should have been a good lesson to this matter.
It was shocking to hear Tom Ridge yesterday on MSNBC Maddow's show declare that despite being wrong in our intelligence, we acted in good faith and with good intentions. Therefore we did no wrong.
It seems that because we are a superpower, our errors and miscalculations are acceptable. No mini-power can behave in such matter and not bear the legal consequences. But as a superpower, no one is going to take us to a war crimes tribunal. The logic of might prevails over the logic of right.
At the moment, the State of Israel is the main proponent of war against Iran. Israel knows that Iran has no nuclear weapons and would never dare use them even if they did have them. However Israel is trying to put the nail in coffin as far as the Palestinian problem goes. Iran is the last power supporting the Syrians, Lebanese and Palestinians in resisting Israel's attempt to finish off the indigenous people of Palestine. Israel, through its regional superpower status, wants to dictate and impose its terms on the Palestinians rather than negotiate and compromise.
It is in this context that Israel feels the urgency to size down Iran. And Israel's Sharon worked on the neo-Cons to convince the simple minded Bush of declaring war on Iraq with the same end game in mind - clearing the path from any obstacles in its attempt to subdue the Palestinians once and for all.
If Israel chooses to declare war on Iran, they are free to do so and should be ready to accept the consequences. Our US tax dollars should stay at home, and our kids should not be sacrificed. Israel should not expect us to come to their aid if things go wrong. And many experts have serious doubts as to whether Israel can with conventional weapons take on Iran on its own. Talk is cheap.
Israel is better advised to heed the words of Michael Jackson's song and "Look in the Mirror" and start the process of acknowledging their crimes of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians, apologizing, and then try to make amendments for the past. Granted history cannot go back to 1948 but some reparations and amendments are due including an end to the occupation and colonization of the West Bank. This is the Triple A or AAA solution proposed by an Israeli, Dalia, in the book "The Lemon Tree" when she came to terms with reality.
It is not too late for Israelis to start working for peace. However, if they opt to continue to live by the sword, eventually they will perish by the sword
In case nobody has noticed, Iran has been going through an uprising by a significant part of the population. These People do not want to be part of the status quo. They want a new republic. That's a good thing.
Has the "West" offered any kind of encouragement,at all,to these fellow human beings who are putting their collective asses on the line. Hell no.
"Three cheers for the status quo!"
There is NO proof, dialogue is the appropriate approach. Hmmmmm. Is the Great Western Hope going to take a hint or is it going to repeat the actions of the past and expect a different result - which as I recall - is more or less a definition of insanity.
try this one:
The Pentagon Improperly sold F-14 parts to IRan.
http://crooksandliars.com/2007/08/02/gao-pentagon-improperly-sold-f-14-parts
somebody's making money....
$$ka-ching$$
somebody's making money...
I wonder who??